Video: 'Lincoln's Farewell Address to Springfield'

(Monday, February 11, 1861, 8:00 a.m. local time) — With the country on the brink of civil war over the issue of slavery, U.S. President-elect Abraham Lincoln departed his adopted hometown of Springfield, Illinois, today en route to his inauguration in the nation’s capital on Mar. 4, 1861.

Video: 'Abraham Lincoln (Documentary)' (Lincoln departs Springfield at 9:41)

After delivering brief impromptu speech from his railroad car, during which many in the crowd were “affected to tears,” Lincoln began the thirteen-day journey that would take him through the capitals of Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well as scores of small towns along the way.

Video: 'Ken Burns’ Civil War, ep1 part 2-3' (Lincoln departs Springfield at 33:52)

Lincoln’s departure followed, by just a few days, the establishment of the Confederate States of America by seven U.S. states in rebellion (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas) and the election of Jefferson Davis as CSA Provisional President in Montgomery, Alabama.